Top Universities With Less Than 5000 New Students [Infographic]

An important way we can pass along value is to help students discover the hidden, but outstanding, University options available to them. Most of us are familiar with the provincial University that a family member or friend attended. Beyond that, few of us know what options are available, or which schools may be a great fit. This is particularly true for those in the northern half of our country, often without local options, or international students considering Canada.

Many of these lesser-known schools have outstanding student and alumni satisfaction ratings. Larger Universities cannot offer the small class sizes and one-on-one time with faculty. Yet, these Universities are rarely mentioned in the media and few are evaluated by the University ranking bodies. So we set out to shine a spotlight on the smaller Universities across Canada, that are too often overlooked.

We looked at every 4-year University in Canada and this is how we select the best-in-class cohort:

Must take fewer than 5000 new students per year

Must take more than 500 new students per year (to help avoid focused organizations on degree specialization, and religion)

An average 1st year and 2nd year class size below 75 students or a student/faculty ration below 35 (incomplete data required multiple measures).

An average yearly tuition cost below $7,000 per year

Graduate rates above 48% (low graduation rates may indicate a lack of institutional support or degrees taking longer than 4 years to complete)

Employment outcomes at 6 months above 85% or at 2 years above 90% respectively (the national average is ~87% and ~94%, two metrics are used due to inconsistent reporting metrics)

A Top 15 Student Review ranking from McLean’s Students’ Favourite Universities in Canada.

The result is a never-before-seen look at the 2017 Best-in-Class Universities with less than 5000 new students:

Best In Class Details

University

Province

Yearly Enrolment (undergrad)

Average Tuition (undergrad)

Student/ Faculty Ratio

Graduation Rate

6-Month Employment Outcome​(> 85%)

2-Year Employment Outcome​(> 90%)

Student Review Ranking

Average 2st & 2nd Year Class Size

MacEwan University

Alberta

4724

$4620

15.6

Unreported but confirmed manually

-

Yes

1-11

Not reported

University of Lethbridge

Alberta

1983

$4974

16.0

74%

-

Yes

8

44

University of Victoria

British Columbia

4716

$5368

22.4

66%

-

Yes

1-7

65

University of Northern British Columbia

British Columbia

767

$5111

15.0

53%

-

Yes

4

38

University of Winnipeg

Manitoba

2349

$3405

23.9

45%

-

Yes

14

37

Brandon University

Manitoba

785

$3440

12.7

48%

-

Yes

19

30

University of New Brunswick

New Brunswick

2265

$6496

17.8

78%

-

Yes

1-10

39

Memorial University of Newfoundland

Newfoundland and Labrador

3855

$2550

16

61%

-

Yes

1-14

44

Saint Mary's University

Nova Scotia

1726

$6800

23.5

52%

-

Yes

12

49

St. Francis Xavier University

Nova Scotia

1204

$6985

19.7

70%

-

Yes

2

45

Cape Breton University

Nova Scotia

785

$6319

16.9

56%

-

Yes

17

30

Mount Saint Vincent University

Nova Scotia

731

$6204

18.3

72%

-

Yes

7

28

University of Guelph

Ontario

4950

$6276

33.6

72%

Yes

Yes

1-2

Not reported

Laurentian University

Ontario

2050

$6163

18.2

70%

Yes

Yes

13

30

Nipissing University

Ontario

1575

$6055

26.2

67%

Yes

Yes

5

26

University of Prince Edward Island

Prince Edward Island

1063

$5860

16.3

66%

-

Yes

11

36

Université de Sherbrooke

Quebec

3373

$4778

16

85%

-

Yes

1-9

31

Bishop's University

Quebec

611

$4770

21.9

73%

-

Yes

1

35

University of Regina

Saskatchewan

2673

$6570

19.7

57%

-

Yes

1-13

37

Data & Statistical Sources:

Statista.com​ was used as the main portal for data from the following organizations: